Marines in the Civil War Quiz-- Part 2

Answers below.

6.  The USMC had a relatively minor role in the war.  Where did they mostly serve?

7.  However, they were involved as a unit in one battle.  What battle?

8.  What action attempted by US Marines on 8 September 1863 led to a stinging defeat?

9.  In their biggest action, some 400 Marines were involved in an assault on a fort on 15 January 1865.  What was the name of that fort?

10.  How many Marines received a Medal of Honor for this last action?

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ANSWERS

6.  Blockade duty on various ships.

7.  First Battle of Bull Run  (Where they ran as did most every Union soldier.)

8.  Attack on Fort Sumter

9.  Fort Fisher

10.  Five.  A total of 17 Marines received Medals of Honor in the war.

--Old B-Runner

Marines in the Civil War Quiz-- Part 1

The McHenry (Illinois) County Civil War Round Table discussion group met earlier today and discussed the role played by both the U.S. and Confederate Marines during the Civil War.

TEN QUESTIONS ABOUT MARINES IN THE WAR  (Answers below)

1.  Of interest, the commandant of the CSMC (Confederate States Marine Corps) Lloyd J. Beall, was born in what state?

2.  Also of interest, how did he become an officer in the military?  

3.  Where were the headquarters and training grounds of the CSMC?

4.  What was the strength of the CSMC?

5.  How was the CSMC organized?

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ANSWERS

1.  Rhode Island

2.  Graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.  (He served in the U.S. Army untikl the Civil War.)

3.  At first at Gosport Navy Yard, Virginia.  After its fall, at Drewry's Bluff, Virginia (on the James River near Richmond.)

4.  45 officers and 1,026 enlisted.

5.  Into lettered companies.

--Old B-Runner

Civil War Navy Trivia-- Part 3: "The Prince of Privateers," Surrendered Three Forts and a Revenue Cutter

6.  He was nicknamed "The Prince of Privateers."  He was born at sea and had a long U.S. Navy career serving on the USS Constitution and Macedonian before serving many years with the U.S. Coast Survey.  In command of the USS Crusader as the Confederate States were seceding, he refused to surrender his ship and took it North, turned it over and then resigned.  He was a very successful blockade runner as well as commanded the Confederate commerce raider CSS Florida.

Who was he?

7.  As a U.S. ordnance sergeant he was forced to surrender a U.S. fort twice and four years later, as a Confederate major, he was forced to surrender a fort to the United States.

Who was he?

8.  This ship served both the U.S. Revenue Service and U.S. Navy.  It was at Fort Sumter when it fell and is credited as firing the first cannon shot by a naval vessel in the war.  Later, it was at the capture of Confederate forts at Hatteras Inlet, N.C., the Battle of New Orleans, the passing of Vicksburg.  It was captured by Confederates off Galveston, Texas.

Answers below.

Two Men and a Ship.  Old B-R'er



6.  John Newland Maffitt

7.  James Reilly

8.  USRC Harriet Lane

Civil War Navy Trivia-- Part 2: Admirals and Another Blockade rRunner

3.  Name the Union admiral who got quite rick from his cut of prize money from his blockading squadron.  He made $109,689.  Quite a sum back then.

4.  Union Secretary of the Navy originally wanted who to command the attack on Fort Fisher?  After this admiral turned job down, Welles gave the assignment to David Dixon Porter.

5.  Originally named the Giraffe , it was bought by the Confederacy for $160,000 gold.  It was reputed to be the fastest vessel afloat at the time.  The sum spent paid off handsomely as the ship ran the blockade 21 times before its capture, bringing out at least 7,000 bales of cotton worth more than $2 million.

What was her name?

Answers below.

A NautiList.  --Old B-Runner


3.  Admiral Samuel P. Lee

4.  Admiral David G. Farragut

5.  Blockade Runner Robert E. Lee

Civil War Navy Trivia-- Part 1: A Blockade Runner and A Spy

As I mentioned in my Saw the Elephant Blog: Civil War, the McHenry County Civil War Round Table discussion group meets tomorrow at Panera Bread in Crystal Lake, Illinois, and this month's topic will be trivia.

Here are some of my trivia questions:

1.  On August 6, 1863, the blockade runner Kate arrived in Wilmington, North Carolina, after successfully running the blockade.  Along with much-needed items in the Confederacy, it also brought something else, not so welcome.    What was it?

2.  What famous Confederate spy was returning to the Confederacy in 1864 aboard the blockade runner Condor when it ran aground off Fort Fisher, guarding Wilmington, N.C..  She drowned in rough seas trying to get to the beach.

Answers below.

--Old B-Runner



1.  Yellow Fever

2.  Rose O'Neal Greenhow

Civil War Quiz in Fayetteville Last Month-- Part 3: What Was the Home Port of the Confederate Raider Chickamauga?

Some other questions the contestants had to answer:

Who was the Devil's Errand Boy?

What was the home port of the Confederate commerce raider Chickamauga?

We all now that the firing on Fort Sumter started the war, but what installation did the first shot come from?

What battle featured  an area known as "The Mule Shoe?"

Answers, in order:  Union Gen. Lafayette Baker, Wilmington, N.C., Fort Johnson, Battle of Spottsylvania.

I missed the first question, but knew the next three.

Fifteen contestants started and within the first three rounds, five had been eliminated.

Division winners got a $50 gift card from Barnes & Noble.

--Old B-R'er

Civil War Quiz in Fayetteville-- Part 2: Who Was Sarah Blalock?

A total of 15 contestants took the challenge.  After three rounds, five were eliminated.

The contest had two categories of contestants, above and below the age of 16.  David Bourhenne and Robert Byrd were the two finalists above 16.  T

hey were almost joined by a third participant, 12-year-old Meghan Croteau of Poquson, Virginia, a self-professed history buff and horse-lover who challenged the adults until the question "Who was Sarah Blalock?  (I would have missed this question as well.)  Turns out, Sarah Blalock was a Union sympathizer who dressed as a Confederate soldier to help her husband escape to the North.  (I'd never heard of her before.)

According to Wikipedia, Malinda Sarah Blalock is one of the best-known combatants of the war and originally dressed as a Confederate soldier to fight along side her husband in the Confederate Army, but later she and her husband went to the hills and mountains of western North Carolina and fought for the Union as a marauder.

I'll have to do more research on her in my Civil War blog "Saw the Elephant."

Some of the other questions:

Civil War Quiz in Fayetteville-- Part 1: What Was a Bean Boiler?

From the Jan. 29, 2016, Fayetteville (NC) Observer "Civil War Trivia:  Bean boilers to 'Stonewall' Jackson, even a 'Devil's Errand Boy'" by Chick Jacobs.

Last month, I wrote about the 14th annual Civil War Quiz Bowl in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which took place Jan. 28th, but hadn't heard anymore about it.

I looked it up and found this article.

David Bourhenne and Robert Byrd stood toe-to-toe through 11 rounds of sudden death showdown with questions like who were bean boilers, the nationality of Union officer Arthur Fremantle and the battle which gave "Stonewall" Jackson his nickname?

(I knew "Stonewall" got his name at Bull Run.  Arthur Fremantle I knew as an Englishman who toured the Confederacy, but I didn't know him as a Union officer.  I looked him up and he toured the Civil War on both sides and was an Englishman.  Bean Boilers was a term I did not know, but you heat up coffee beans so probably something with that drink.  I looked it up and found it to be a name they sometimes called company cooks during the war.)

David Bourhenne won.

--Old B-R'er

Civil War Quiz Bowl in Fayetteville, N.C.

From the Jan. 15, 2016, Fayetteville (NC) Observer "Quiz Bowl tests Civil War knowledge Jan. 28."

The Museum of the Cape Fear in Fayetteville, N.C. will be hosting its 15th annual Civil War Quiz Bowl Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Pate Room.

Contestants will be able to choose from 14 categories and host and Quiz Bowl founder Jim Greathouse will be asking the questions.

Categories include: 1861, 1862, 1863, 1864, 1865, Literature, From Fayetteville to Durham's Station, True or False, Mixed Bag, Multiple Choice, Who Am I?, North Carolina's Story, Chronology and Aye Aye Capt'in.

It is open for up to 20 contestants.

--Old B-R'er